Papua is aggressively promoting its specialty coffees to the world’s coffee lovers. Arabica coffee from Papua now comes with a unique brand called Koteka Coffee.
Let’s find out why these premium coffee beans from Papua are so unique and attract the attention of the European market!
What is Koteka Coffee?
Koteka Coffee is one of the Arabica coffee brands from Papua, a program from the Oksibil district, Papua, to make the coffee have a higher selling value.
Papuan coffees are often brought to various world exhibitions. One of the prestigious coffee exhibitions is the “Specialty Coffee Expo,” held in Bosten, US, on April 8 to 10, 2022.
To make many people interested, the packaging that has existed since 1970 in the Bintang Mountains is made of koteka. Koteka is one of the characteristics of the Papuan people made of water gourd.
Papua coffee beans are superior in Indonesia and can compete as one of the best coffee beans in the world. Evidenced by the marketing of coffee domestically and to several countries such as New Zealand, Australia, and other European countries.
The Uniqueness of Koteka Coffee
Hideon Gunawan, a roaster with certification from the Specialty Coffee Association of America, shared some of the uniqueness of this coffee after conducting a brief exploration of coffee from Oksibil in 2018.
Some of its uniqueness include:
1. Typical Arabica
This type of best coffee beans is the oldest Arabica coffee in the world that is pure without any mating with other types.
Arabica Tipika has a large trunk, and the distance between each bunch of coffee fruit is far apart.
This type of coffee can be productive in producing good quality coffee beans for up to 30 years.
2. Ideal Land Temperature and Altitude
The coffee trees in the Oksibil area are planted more than 1900 meters above sea level.
The height of the land is quite different from other types of coffee, which are, on average, at an altitude of 1500 meters above sea level. Meanwhile, the temperature on the Koteka Coffee plantation is around 18 to 23 degrees Celsius. The combination of height and temperature makes the land in Oksibil ideal.
If the coffee plantation is on high land, maturing coffee beans will take longer. This causes a buildup of nutrients and a higher level of acidity in each coffee bean.
3. Professional Manual Process
Farmers in Oksibil process Koteka Coffee manually and traditionally, from skinning to the roasting process.
Apart from getting an education from the local authorities, coffee farmers also have the right instincts to process these coffees.
The proof is that they pick entirely red coffee beans and dry the coffee properly so that the quality is maintained until it reaches the hands of consumers.
4. Long Harvest Time
Although the massive harvest period has passed, coffee production continues throughout the year. The determining factor is that each coffee farmer has a different harvest time. This causes the impression that the harvest is always there throughout the year.
Koteka Coffee’s big harvest is usually in May. Each farmer can produce 300 to 600 kilograms of coffee beans from 1000 trees.
5. Unique Packaging Using Koteka
The combination of local culture and coffee is the unique value of Koteka Coffee. The coffee is also planned to become a souvenir icon so that tourists can get to know Papuan coffee and koteka simultaneously.
Coffee lovers can decorate Koteka after the coffee they buy runs out.
Seeing the great potential of Koteka Coffee, it is appropriate for various related parties to advance this industry aggressively. So the desire to make Koteka Coffee an icon of Oksibil known to the world is realized.
